A Snoggletog Miracle
by iloveinheritance
Summary: Will Hiccup get home in time for Snoggletog? And if he is, will he ever be the same? Rated T for some (very) minor adult themes.
1. Part 1

HTTYD Christmas Special: A Snoggletog Miracle—Part 1

It was almost midnight, and Gobber was just finishing his nightly clean-up of the smithy. He thought no one else was still awake until he heard quiet footsteps outside.

Peeking outside, he saw a blond, teenage girl sneaking past.

"Astrid! What are ya still doin' awake?" Gobber exclaimed loudly.

Astrid whirled around. "Shh, my parents don't know I'm here!" she yell-whispered. "I was just looking for Toothless…"

"I expect he's at the Chief's house; that's where he was last time I saw him. I'da thought ya were lookin' fer Hiccup, but then, he's not 'ere…"

A wave of sadness passed over Astrid's face. "I know, that's why I'm looking for Toothless." She felt a sudden urge to tell Gobber what she'd been doing since Hiccup left; she knew he wouldn't tell her secret. "I've been visiting Toothless every night ever since they headed out. He just comforts me, wakes me up before my parents do so they don't know I went out. Toothless misses him, too…"

Gobber patter her shoulder. "I'm sure Hiccup thinks about you every day. And I have a feelin' tha' they won't be gone much longer, Astrid. They've been out there for nearly a month, more than enough time to get their task done."

Astrid's mind wandered.

_She was feeding her dragon Stormfly when he called her name. "Astrid! I need to talk to you about something," Hiccup panted, having run from his house all the way to the other side of the village, where Astrid's house was._

_They walked to one of Berk's secluded shores and sat watching the sea for a bit. Hiccup had a strange look on his face; a mixture of sadness, and…anger, maybe? Whatever it was, it made her feel uneasy._

"_What do you need to tell me, Hiccup?" Astrid prodded gently._

_He shook his head and drew himself up. "Um…I'm not going to be on Berk for a while, Astrid. I don't know for how long. I only know that Dad has to go negotiate with some other Viking tribes about an iron ore mine that's been found on an uninhabited island. We're going to talk about how we're going to share the metal inside and stuff like that. Just so we don't go to war with each other. If we come to a reasonable agreement, we might go ahead and start mining, and bringing the iron back here. Anyway, Dad wants me to come with him."_

_Astrid raised an eyebrow. "Why?"_

"_He thinks it'll be 'good exposure' or something like that. It'll show me how a Chief solves his problems or whatever." He sighed._

"_I take it you don't want to go."_

"_Honestly, I'd rather stay here. Snoggletog is less than two months away. I know it's kind of a long time, but from the sound of it, this trip could also be a long time. Maybe a month or longer. I'd prefer spending Snoggletog on Berk with you than on a ship out on the open ocean." He blushed; it was fairly obvious that he hadn't meant to say the "with you" part._

_Astrid nodded glumly, pretending she hadn't noticed. "So when are you leaving?"_

"_End of the week. And we're not taking dragons, by the way, since most Viking tribes don't like them much."_

_Astrid looked at Hiccup sharply. "But what if something happens to you? Dragons could save your life!"_

"_I know, but Dad says we can't risk anything. Especially if the Berserkers show up."_

"_You at least have to take Terrible Terrors for airmail! I want to hear from you every once in a while. Promise me you'll take at least a couple?"_

_Hiccup could see several things wrong with that, but decided not to argue. "I'll try to get my dad to let us sneak a few below deck."_

The rest of the flashback was a blur. They had spent the next few days together, whether with Snotlout, Fishlegs, and the twins or alone. Two days before Hiccup was due to leave, Stoick had called him away from the Dragon Academy to prepare for the journey. At the end of the week, he had left, but not before Astrid had given him a little goodbye kiss.

"Astrid? _Astrid!_ Are ya awake?" Gobber shook her none too gently.

Astrid shook her head. "Yeah…I'm fine." She nervously drummed her fingers on the counter of the smithy. "So you said Toothless is at Hiccup's place tonight? Thanks, he gets restless at night without Hiccup here, so he moves from place to place and I have to go look for him everywhere…"

Gobber smiled at her. "Well, if that's all, then I bid ya good night, Astrid," he said, tipping his helmet.

She waved and headed for the Chief's house. Slipping inside, she whispered, "Toothless?" and was relieved to hear an answering hum from the great Night Fury. He lay on the floor next to the fire pit in the middle of the room. Astrid dropped next him, and he covered her with his wing, simultaneously starting a small fire in the pit. She was grateful; it was only two weeks before Snoggletog and the weather was even colder than usual.

Her mind meandered again, and her stomach swooped unpleasantly as she realized that Hiccup hadn't kept his promise to write to her. She hadn't received a single letter since the day he'd left, even though he had been able to convince Stoick to keep four Terrors below deck. _Stoick could just be keeping Hiccup too busy to write, or maybe he did send one, but the Terror went astray,_ she thought, trying to quell the rising anxiety in her heart.

There was nothing wrong. The letter was just taking a while to arrive, that was all. None too reassured, she snuggled next to Toothless and fell into a fitful sleep.

††

Astrid awoke screaming in terror.

A nightmare had invaded her worried mind, one that would haunt her for years to come. She was watching several Vikings descend into a pit, some Hooligans, some from other tribes. Other Vikings were milling around the opening to the pit.

They were saying nothing of interest, and dream-Astrid was thinking about following the other Vikings into the great hole when a great rumble shook the earth. She backed away as the ground fell in on itself, as if the very foundation of the pit had given way.

For a full minute, the earthquake rattled so hard that Astrid could not stay on her feet. Then, as abruptly as it had started, it ceased.

Astrid lifted her head slowly, eyes wide with terror as she beheld the pit. Or at least, what was left of it.

She rushed to the edge and peered in. She gasped, eyes widening to the size of dinner plates, as she realized that the hole was almost completely filled in, some Vikings trapped at the top, a few moaning and trying to free themselves from rocks and dirt, others unmoving.

Astrid wanted to help them, but found herself unable to move as a horrifying thought struck her like the blast of a Night Fury.

_Hiccup had gone in there!_

She knew there was no saving him. She began to scream in anguish.

That was how she woke up.

Gobber was the first to practically break down the door to get at her. "Astrid, what's wrong, is everythin' all right?"

Astrid caught her breath. "Everything's fine, just a bad dream," she panted.

"Must've been quite a dream, ya woke up yer dragon!" Gobber was shoved aside as Stormfly stuck her head through the doorway.

"I'm fine, girl, get back to your bed before my parents notice," Astrid ordered her dragon. Stormfly, put out by the fact that Astrid was hanging out with Toothless so much lately, snorted and refused. "Stormfly! Go, or I'll be in trouble!"

"You're already in trouble, young lady!" exclaimed a voice that was quite familiar to Astrid.

She groaned. Her parents, Phlegma the Fierce and Brune the Burly, had finally found out about her sneaking out.

Astrid got up along with Toothless and walked to the door with the dragon by her side. Stormfly moved out of the way to reveal her rider's angry parents. Astrid noticed other Vikings out in the village square, wondering where the screaming had come from.

"What were ya doin' in the Chief's house?" Brune asked bluntly. "Tryin' ta wake up the whole village?"

"Mom, Dad, I can explain. I've…been missing Hiccup so much that I've been sneaking out to be with Toothless. He's really the only one that can relate to me—"

"What about me? Hiccup's like a son ta me," Gobber protested.

"Well, I guess so, but it would be kind of awkward to go looking for you," Astrid replied uncomfortably. "And besides, it's more of a friend relationship for the two of us rather than a parent-offspring relationship. Much, much more. Anyway, Toothless is just comforting me. That's all that's been happening, isn't that right, Toothless?" The dragon hummed in affirmation.

Phlegma looked as though she didn't know what to say. Then she smiled. "Oh, I think I understand, Astrid. Teenage romance…" she said quietly, more to her husband than to Astrid. Phlegma rolled her eyes.

"Mom! This isn't about romance. It's just that he's my friend, I haven't heard from him in a while, and I had a dream that he was in a massive earthquake and got crushed to nothing by tons of rock. Okay?"

Phlegma crossed her arms, silently warning her daughter not to cross the line of disrespect. Astrid got the message and visibly wilted. "Could I just go back to sleep?"

Brune took his wife by the elbow. "Come on, Phlegma, let's leave Astrid to get her sleep. She can come back to the house at breakfast time. Stormfly, come on!"

"That's okay, Dad, she can stay outside," Astrid said quickly. Stormfly parked herself right on the stairs; Phlegma and Brune were forced to go around her into the large snow banks. "All this snow, and it's not even Snoggletog yet!" Phlegma grumbled.

Astrid looked at Gobber. "Gobber, I'm totally fine," she emphasized.

He shrugged. "All right."

Astrid watched him walk back to his house, then patted Stormfly on the head and went back inside Hiccup's house with Toothless. Sitting next to the fire, she gazed at the dying embers, which reminded her of her dream, all the dying Vikings…

It wasn't only the deaths that bothered her; it was the vividness of the dream. It had seemed so _real_.

But it couldn't be. She had just dreamed that Hiccup had been in a colossal earthquake; it was a product of her overactive imagination, fueled by her worry from not having heard from Hiccup.

But again, it was so realistic. Was it a premonition? _Oh, Thor, no, please don't let it be a premonition,_ she thought desperately. _Odin, I am begging you, don't let it be a premonition._

Forget sleeping. Astrid didn't want to risk having another dream like that until Hiccup got back. Then at least he would be there to console her, to let her know that he was really alive and well, that he hadn't died.

†To be continued†


	2. Part 2

HTTYD Christmas Special: A Snoggletog Miracle—Part 2

_**A few days later.**_

Astrid swirled her soup moodily.

She didn't know how anyone could be having fun when the Chief, his son, and half the village were gone on some stupid business trip that could be really dangerous. Yet there they all were, the Thorston twins, Snotlout, and Fishlegs, all chatting away and punching each other as if nothing was wrong. _Well, maybe nothing is wrong,_ she thought. _Though I highly doubt it._

Since she had had the awful dream, she had been trying not to sleep very much. She had failed, but she hadn't had another nightmare. The dream still bothered her, however, so she had finally gone to Gothi and told her about what she'd seen. Astrid hadn't been able to understand everything Gothi wrote in the dirt—only Gobber could translate, and he had mixed results—but she could tell it wasn't good.

Astrid could hardly stand to watch the other four play around. She finally snapped when the twins began throwing their utensils at one another, a spoon and a knife nearly hitting her. She shoved away her still-almost-full plate, grabbed a knife out of Ruff's hand and a fork out of Tuff's, and shouted, "Can't you guys even _pretend_ to be smart?" Slamming the utensils to the floor, she rushed to the great double doors of the Great Hall, threw them open, and ran into the snowstorm outside.

She didn't stop running until she reached her house and fell onto her bed, sobbing. She didn't know _what_ came over her back there; even in her angriest moments, she hadn't ever said something like that to the twins. Maybe it was the overwhelming fear that her nightmare had been true, that Hiccup had been killed in a situation from which dragons could have saved him…_Darn it, Stoick, why couldn't you have just taken the stupid dragons_…

But she didn't know for sure if that were true. Either way, her behavior had been inexcusable. _I'll have to apologize to them…later._

Astrid walked over to her wall, where there were a number of scratches. Each denoted another day Hiccup had been gone. She took out her dagger and dug it in. 32 scratches. 32 days.

Then she walked over to a notebook she kept, where she had drawn a little calendar-like chart; here, she marked off the days until Snoggletog. _24 days until Snoggletog. Hiccup has to be back before then…_

She stared out the window at the sea, in the direction Hiccup had gone. All she wished was that she could see a ship, no, _the_ ship that would mean he had returned. Then she would know he was safe.

Sitting up suddenly, she squinted at the horizon. Was that…_a ship?_ It was too good to be true. How could a ship just _happen_ to appear at the very same moment she wished that she could see one?

Even as she thought, more ships appeared—about the number Stoick had left with. She could barely make out the sails; narrowing her eyes even more, she came to a realization. _Berk sails! Hiccup is home!_

All thought of what had happened over the past few days was instantly shoved out of her mind. A huge grin on her face, she sprinted to the Great Hall. "Everyone, listen! Hic—er, the Chief's back, I just spotted the fleet!"

Almost instantly, the entire Hall of people rose as one and dashed for the shoreline to welcome their warriors (negotiators, really) home.

"Goodness, Astrid, they're still quite a ways off. Probably be another twenty or so minutes before they get here. Ya could've waited a bit before tellin' us," Gobber reproved her.

"Then you would've just told me off for not telling you earlier!" she replied indignantly. "Besides, now they'll be able to see us from really far away. They'll see we're here to welcome Hic—them home."

Gobber smiled; her slip of the tongue hadn't got past him. "Can't stop thinkin' about 'im, can ya?"

"Oh, shut up," Astrid muttered, so quietly that Gobber couldn't hear her.

"H-hi, Astrid," squeaked a high-pitched, nervous male voice.

She smiled. "What are you anxious about, Fishlegs? Come on, let's wave 'em on home!"

Fishlegs grinned in relief; Astrid's awful mood had ended as soon as she'd seen the fleet. He gestured to the other teens, who had stayed behind in case Astrid felt like throwing forks around again. They came up next to her, as the whole village cheered the fleet.

After about fifteen minutes, all the ships landed at dock. The crowd surged toward them, fully expecting Stoick the Vast to appear first, smiling, announcing that their mission had been a success.

But it was Bucket and Mulch who exited the ships first. Astrid knew immediately by the looks on their faces that something was terribly wrong.

Bucket stammered, "So there's good news, bad news, and even worse news…which do ya want ta hear first?"

Mulch elbowed him. "That's not how ya tell the village somethin' like this, Bucket! This is serious.

"But yes, everyone, there's been a bad occurrence. Ya know we were all out negotiatin' which tribes gets what share of the iron in that mine. The Vikin's who found that mine knew it was old, but they didn't know how old it was. They'd sent a few people in to make sure it was safe, and they thought it was. They put a few support beams under the weak parts, and left it like that.

"After we'd decided how to split the iron, Vikin's from all the tribes present—including Stoick the Vast, Hiccup, and a few others from ours—went down to start collecting shares. They weren't in there five minutes before the whole thing just collapsed in on itself!"

The villagers gasped. Astrid's blood turned to ice. _It's true…_

"Luckily, Bucket's right. There is some good-ish news to this. Only a few people were killed and there was only one Hooligan casualty."

Astrid began to breathe again. _Quite a few Hooligans went down in there; what's the chance that Hiccup's the one who got hurt…?_

"Unfortunately…" Mulch gulped, "…his injuries were such that he might not live…"

As if on cue, Stoick the Vast leapt from one of the ships, a small bundle in his arms. He looked like he might either cry or go absolutely mad. Or both.

"GOTHI!" he roared. "_Gothi, I need you!_"

Astrid completely froze as she saw part of the bundle: a face, framed by dark red hair, bleeding and dented-looking, rolling on an impossibly loose neck.

_Hiccup._

Astrid's eyes rolled back in her head. As her vision went blurry and her knees gave way, she thought, _Why, Odin? Why Hiccup?_

Strong arms tried to lift her. Thinking it was Gobber, she tried to push them away. "Astrid, come on, Gothi's got enough to deal with!" said a rough, shaky voice.

_Snotlout?_ "Snotlout, are you…_crying?_" Astrid asked groggily, yet in complete disbelief. Her vision cleared, and she could see clearly the tears that trickled down his cheeks. "I know he's your cousin, but you…crying?"

"I can't help it, okay!" He picked her up and set her on her feet. "It may never _look_ like I care about that dweeb, but—gods, if he dies—"

The sentence hit Astrid like a ton of bricks. She looked around wildly, trying to find Stoick, and finally spotted him running as quickly as he could toward his own house, Gobber hot on his heels. Gobber looked as though he might actually be _carrying_ Gothi over. _Well, desperate times call for desperate measures…what am I saying?! I HAVE to get over there!_

She shook off a bewildered Snotlout and sprinted after them. "Wait! I want to help. _Let me help!_" she screamed.

By the time she got to the Chief's house, the door was closed and Gobber wouldn't let her in. "It's not pretty, Astrid. I'm not sure that even you could handle it—"

Astrid was beyond putting us with this. "LET ME IN THERE! I CAN HELP—I'M THE ONE WHO HAD THE STUPID NIGHTMARE, I'M THE ONE WHO KNEW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!"

Inside the house, silence prevailed. Then Stoick threw open the door, shoved Gobber aside, and grabbed Astrid by the shoulders. "You knew—_you knew_—"

Another second and Gothi might have had another patient to deal with; fortunately, she hit Stoick over the head with her staff, causing him to drop Astrid. "Ah, Astrid, I'm sorry. I'm just so—so worried…Gobber, let her in. I want to hear more about this…"

So Astrid told them about her nightmare. "No wonder I've never heard you scream like that before!" Gobber commented.

Stoick began to pace. "When did you have this dream again, Astrid?"

"About four days ago, it might've been seven or so in the morning."

He froze. _"That's when it happened!"_ he cried. "Four days ago, at about seven in the morning, that mine fell in on itself!"


	3. Part 3

HTTYD Christmas Special: A Snoggletog Miracle Part 3

Astrid was completely astounded. "You mean, I actually had a—a sort of…vision?"

"I wouldn't be surprised, Astrid," Gobber said. "The gods give certain gifts ta those who know how ta use them wisely. Ya were probably more prepared than any o' us to get this news…"

"If anything, I was _less_ prepared than you. I kept trying to convince myself that it was just a stupid dream…" She paused as a low moan sounded upstairs. Her very heart seemed to seize up. _"What are we doing talking, we have to help Hiccup—!" _

Stoick was way ahead of her, literally and figuratively. He was halfway up the stairs before Astrid even left her seat.

When she got up, Stoick was kneeling by Hiccup's bedside. Astrid ran to the right side of the bed. She gasped aloud; for if Vikings had had horror movies, this would have been one of the most gruesome scenes.

She had thought Hiccup's head had looked bad enough, but without the blanket that had been covering him when Stoick had first emerged from the ship, she could hardly stand to look at him. Various lacerations made stripes across his torso, at least two of his limbs looked broken, and his prosthetic leg was twisted beyond repair. The cuts and scrapes on his face were thrown into a greater light; had Astrid not known what had really happened, she would have thought that he'd really ticked off a dragon.

She collapsed to her knees at his side; ever so gently she took his frail hand. She could actually feel it trembling. Fearfully, she looked to Gothi. "Is he going to live?"

Gothi was already writing before she finished speaking. Gobber looked over and started to translate under his breath. "Can't…do anything…until he's been…Ah, Gothi, ya _got_ ta be kiddin' me!"

"What? What is it?" cried Stoick and Astrid simultaneously.

"Ah, see, Gothi says she won't be able to perform a proper examination of his injuries…unless we get all this mud off him, 'n' as much of this blood as possible," Gobber stammered.

Astrid was nonplussed. "Okay…we can do that."

"Yeah…only I think we'd prefer ya didn't, Astrid…see, the cleanin's got to be, um…thorough."

Stoick was the first to understand. "Oh. Yes. Astrid, it might be best if ya wait downstairs…"

By now, Astrid had gotten the gist of Gobber's translation. She was a little embarrassed, but boldly stated, "I'd like to stay anyway. It'll go faster if I help too. I can do his upper half, and you can do…the rest…"

"Oh, givin' us the hard part, is she?" Gobber muttered to Stoick.

"I'll get Gothi downstairs," Astrid called back. She helped the little old woman down to the fire and was about to go back to the others when the front door burst open.

Pulling out her dagger, she whirled…and fell as a giant black _thing_ jumped on top of her. "Toothless!" she gasped. "Where have you been all this time? I'd have thought…!"

But the dragon was already bounding upstairs. "WAIT! Toothless, you can't just go up there!"

Toothless was next to Hiccup, sniffing at his hair and whining. He knew Hiccup was seriously injured and could be close to death, and badly wanted to do something about it.

Astrid pulled the Night Fury away. "Toothless, if you want to help, you need to stay over here, out of the way," she instructed. "Maybe you can bring us something if we need it."

This calmed him a bit, enough for him to be able to sit still on his slab of rock in the corner, so Astrid returned to the bed. She began to undo Hiccup's belt nervously. Once it was off, Stoick gently slid a hand under Hiccup's shoulder blades and slipped his tunic over his head. Astrid let out an audible gasp as she caught sight of her friend's upper torso.

Hiccup's skin was a mottled black and blue. A myriad of deep crimson lines was etched across his chest. Any bits of skin that weren't bruised or cut were ghost white. Sweat ran over his sides and pooled at his sternum and spaces in-between his ribs, several of which looked broken.

The amount of sweat told everyone that Hiccup, in addition to being injured, was desperately ill, undoubtedly due to infection of his wounds. Astrid brought a hand to her mouth in shock; tears filled her eyes as she thought of the pain Hiccup would be in, were he conscious.

Taking a deep breath, she looked back at his face. It had looked bad enough from the distance she had stood from Stoick when he had arrived, but up close it was truly awful. Blood fell down his face in droplets, seeped through his hair onto his pillow. His nose looked crooked and the right side of his jaw displaced. Beneath the lids, his eyes shot back and forth, as if he were dreaming.

The statement, "Here, let's cover 'im with this," distracted Astrid from her reverie. She glanced over to see Gobber, placing Hiccup's tattered pants on the floor alongside his tunic, and Stoick, preserving Hiccup's modesty with a blanket brought to him by an excited Toothless.

"Let me go get some water," muttered Gobber.

Stoick nodded dumbly, gazing upon his stricken son with a mixture of love, fear, and a little revulsion. The Chief bent down to examine Hiccup's prosthetic as Gobber left. "Broken beyond repair," he sighed. "We'll have to make him a new one as soon as possible."

Astrid straightened slightly. The Chief was being optimistic; he was speaking as though Hiccup would be healthy again. Therefore, she would act as though it were possible for her friend to recover fully. She nodded. "Of course we will. He can't walk or fly without it!" she affirmed, smiling at Stoick a tad. He returned it uncertainly.

Astrid wiped away the few tears she had let fall as Gobber brought a few buckets of cold water in. "Sorry, Stoick, but I didn't think we'd 'ave time ta warm up the water. We need Gothi ta do her stuff sooner rather than later, 'n' it might be better anyway, since 'e seems ta be havin' a fever. "

Stoick nodded again as he handed a cloth to his right-hand man and Astrid. Astrid dipped it in the water and softly wiped Hiccup's face.

She washed every drop of blood from his skin with the tenderness of a mother caring for her child. Soon, the red was reduced to lines and the whiteness of his face gave way to a slight pink for the friction of the fabric against his sensitive skin. It was immediately obvious to Astrid that his nose was broken and his jaw dislocated. She knew Gothi could fix his jaw, but she wondered if his nose would always look crooked now.

Well, it didn't matter. He would still be Hiccup.

She moved down to his neck and shoulders. Grabbing a new cloth, she cleaned his neck, glad that it hadn't snapped under the colossal weight of stone and earth in the mine. One of his shoulders was also dislocated, so she took care not to jostle it too much.

She did the same with his arms. Cautiously, she lifted both to get all sides, taking extreme pains to move his broken left arm as little as possible.

His chest was by far the hardest part, where he was most gravely injured. Astrid gingerly ran another cloth down his sternum, across his ribs, all over. She winced whenever she touched one of the bulges that meant a severely broken rib. It was difficult to be gentle yet thorough as she cleaned his chest; it didn't help that he took great gasping breaths, even in his state of unconsciousness.

Then she washed his stomach, bruised and slashed, and his hips, battered but miraculously not as badly damaged as she had thought they would be.

She was at a loss as to how she going at get at his back. If she turned him on his left side, he would lay on his broken arm, and if she turned him on his right, he would have pressure on his dislocated shoulder. She decided that his shoulder could take it better and turned him away from her. She paused with bated breath as he moaned in agony.

She looked questioningly at Stoick and Gobber, who had already finished their cleaning. Stoick came over and gently turned his son on his right side, making sure to cushion his displaced shoulder with another blanket.

"Poor kid," Gobber whispered. "Nobody deserves ta have a mine fall on 'im, 'specially a young boy like Hiccup…"

Astrid nodded as she began to swab Hiccup's back.

She shrieked in surprise as he arched his back and cried out. Stoick was back at Hiccup's side in an instant, Gobber alongside him. Astrid dropped her cloth and rushed to where the two men stood, and Toothless bounded over to his rider in a panic.

"That dragon either needs to stay in his corner or get out!" Stoick growled. "If he doesn't control himself, someone else could get hurt."

"Toothless, get back…_please_…" Astrid begged the Night Fury. Toothless backed up, slightly abashed.

"_Dad,"_ whispered a weak voice. "What happened…?"

"Hiccup!" cried the other three all at once.

"Hiccup, thank Odin you're awake, I thought you would never…" Tears actually filled Stoick's eyes.

"Dad…I remember…" Hiccup stopped as his displaced jaw pained him. "That earthquake…all those rocks falling in—"

"Hiccup, don't even try to talk. You'll just damage that jaw more. Anyway, you're home, safe. Astrid and Toothless are right here, and so is Gobber," Stoick told his son quietly.

Hiccup didn't even acknowledge Gobber or Astrid; as if he sensed a presence behind him, he tried to roll over. "Toothless…"

The dragon hesitated, then came forward and sniffed his boy's hair. Hiccup yelped as Toothless began to lick him excitedly.

Astrid leapt over the bed and tried to pull him away. "Stop, Toothless! You're hurting him!"

Toothless ceased licking his rider immediately. He hummed an apology as Hiccup pet him with his right arm. Or at least tried to; his shoulder wouldn't let him lift it very well.

"Hiccup, stop," Astrid ordered him, attempting to put his arm back down carefully. "We're trying to take care of you. I have to finish washing you, and then Gothi's going to take a look at you."

"Washing…me?" He blinked in confusion, then turned red as a Monstrous Nightmare as he realized the only thing covering him was a blanket. "Oh…" He blinked again as he realized something. "Astrid?"

"Yes, Hiccup, I'm here," she replied gently.

"You…you saw me…" he murmured, trying to move his jaw as little as possible.

"No, your dad and Gobber did that, Hiccup," she reassured him. "I just need to finish your back, and then Gothi will work her magic." Astrid struggled to smile, to tell Hiccup silently that everything would be all right, even though she didn't know if that were true.

Stoick repositioned Hiccup carefully, putting yet another blanket between his shoulder and the hard boards of the bed. Astrid took a new cloth and rubbed his back in circles, massaging his broken skin and sore, torn muscles. She winced whenever he let out an involuntary moan of pain, and noticed that the moans were most frequent when she touched the small of his back. She frowned. She would have to warn Gothi about that.

She helped to turn him so he faced upwards again. All the mud that had formerly taken up residence on Hiccup's skin had been evicted, but many of his wounds still bled and drops of sweat once more gathered on his face and heaving, exposed chest. His eyes were closed, and Astrid was afraid he had slipped back into oblivion when he said:

"Where's…" He paused to cough. "Where's…Gothi?"

"She's coming up, Hiccup. Don't worry; she's going to get you healed and you'll be back on Toothless in no time," Astrid responded confidently.

"Stay…with me?"

"Of course. We all will."

Astrid actually wasn't sure if she wanted to stay and hear the diagnoses of all the various injuries her friend had, but whether she did or not, she would remain to comfort him. She took his hand.

They both awaited Gothi with bated breath.


End file.
